


after the storm

by tigermochaeyu



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:19:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22420180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigermochaeyu/pseuds/tigermochaeyu
Summary: Her arms cling tighter around the pillow she's had clutched to her chest for the better part of the last hour, a last ditch effort to ground her to this room and this plane of existence with something that doesn't fill her with fear or guilt.
Relationships: Im Nayeon/Son Chaeyoung
Comments: 2
Kudos: 69





	after the storm

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a delerious state at like 2am so I apologize for any mistakes
> 
> Title from After the Storm by Mumford and Sons (I'd actually highly suggest listening to it while you read if you can, I wrote it while listening to it and it really sets the mood I was trying to convey)

There's a knock, Nayeon registers somewhere at the edges of this murky water her mind seems to be submerged in, at her door before it creaks open with both caution and determination. Her arms cling tighter around the pillow she's had clutched to her chest for the better part of the last hour, a last ditch effort to ground her to this room and this plane of existence with something that doesn't fill her with fear or guilt.

"Unnie," she hears Chaeyoung's voice cuts through the haze, a hand in the murky water searching for her, grasping at currents to pull Nayeon back to the surface. But Nayeon can't see, eyes trained to her kneecaps pressed close to her chest, that acidic guilt crawling up the back of her throat-

The bed dips, gentle fingers finding purchase on Nayeon's knee, thumb tracing patterns that only Chaeyoung would find art in along her skin. A hand becomes an arm, submerging further into dirtied water to rescue Nayeon from her own mind, and finally Nayeon is aware of it. 

"Unnie are you okay?" Chaeyoung's voice is like the spring breeze; gentle, in the way it caresses Nayeon's skin and wraps her in the fresh scent of rebirth and budding flowers bursting into bloom. She remains soft with her words, loud enough for Nayeon to hear her but quiet enough for not even the stars to mistake that this conversation is one to be listened to. 

It nearly makes her sick. She doesn't deserve to be given this kindness.

"I'm sorry," is all Nayeon manages, voice nearly a whisper as it cracks with lack of use and lack of emotional control. Her eyes begin to burn, tears not there quite yet but making their arrival known, as she apologizes again so quietly that she isn't even sure she spoke at all.

"This isn't your fault." Nayeon marvels over how Chaeyoung can sound so soft and calm yet so assured and confident in her words. 

A storm rages above the surface of the murky waters. Thunder rumbling across the sky as though to remind her of her faults. "It is, this is all my fault. If only I had done something sooner or- or given in to-" 

"Nayeon." 

Maybe it's the lack of honorific. Maybe it's because it's the loudest thing she's heard all night. But Nayeon finally looks up. 

Lighting cracks above the murky waters, yet there is still the arm that reaches out to her, begging her to take it and swim to the surface.

"This isn't your fault. You didn't leak my number, you didn't leak Mina unnie's address, you didn't do anything wrong. You're not at fault here, I promise."

And maybe it's pathetic to break at those words, but Chaeyoung doesn't make promises. She thinks they're stupid, to make a declaration that her words are true just to assure someone. 'People should just trust that the person who said they would do something will do it,' she had told Nayeon, half a mouth full of cereal and a messy head of hair, never afraid to be honest even when she looked ridiculous.

She's so hung up on the fact that Chaeyoung had gone against how she perceives the world to reassure her and comfort her, she barely notices the warm trickle of tears down her cheeks until Chaeyoung catches them with her thumb.

"Thank you.. for.. for standing up for us," Nayeon whispers, as though her words were a secret of the universe. As though they would open the gates of hell themselves. There's an underlying level of desperation and a quiet, hidden plea for Chaeyoung to notice it.

The waves are choppy and scary.

"Do you want me to stay with you?"

The hand is still there in the depths.

"Please."

The first breath after breaking the surface comes when her head falls into Chaeyoung's shoulder, a gentle hand carding through her hair like the warm summer currents down a stream.

**Author's Note:**

> Protect Nayeon protect Chaeyoung protect Twice
> 
> Follow me on Twitter @ tigermochaeyu


End file.
